My child is now 13 months old and lots of people are telling me should be on one nap during the day, he doesn’t seem ready to me, when do you think he would be? Typically young children are ready to transition from two naps to one around 15-18 months. It is very important not to rush this transition as if your child is not biologically capable of being on one big sleep, you may start to experience, frequent

Your child will generally require a day time nap for the first 3 years of life. This would typically be considered a biological need for sleep that evolves from birth. Without necessary daytime sleep, you may find that your night-time sleep is fractured, due to overtiredness, and you may also observe compromised mood, behaviour and appetite. Although day time sleep can often be challenging to establish and is ever- changing within the first 18 months; achieving adequate naps can

Naps are definitely hard, regardless of your child’s age, but none more so in those early few months as your baby’s nap rhythms are generally not established until 6 months which can mean that both you and baby are frustrated trying to achieve and maintain any semblance of day time sleep. Firstly, it’s important to note that having challenges with naps in the early months is entirely typical and not a representation of your skills as a parent; nor

How that is a lot of baby’s don’t seem to sleep like a baby you may ask? Very often parents report struggles with their children’s sleep. Not all sleep issues need fixing and not all sleep challenges can be rectified, well not at least until your baby is older than 6 months of age. First of all, I would never consider what is happening to your child’s sleep to be a problem that requires intervention until they are at

  Lots of factors affect your child’s sleep, the timing, the environment and way in which they go to sleep, developmental leaps and stages, travel, maternal mood for example. Another significant sleep-wrecker is sickness and teething. Sickness and teething can have ongoing impact on your child ability to sleep well. Many children will experience bouts of routine illnesses such as ear, throat, chest infections, colds and viruses with minimum sleep disturbance. Others may have parents up at night (sometimes

Talk to any parent and they will potentially tell you that one of their children routinely resists sleep. Whether the battle ensues at bedtime, over night or for nap time, it is a common issue. Parents of children who continually fight sleep start to report that their child doesn’t like sleep, needs less sleep than their peers or perhaps is so bright, they find it hard to switch off. Whilst all of those considerations may be valid, it is

Your new baby will come with their own individual sleep ability. Please bear in mind that in the first 6 months or so there are no real, so called “bad habits” and you must not worry too much about how and where your child sleeps, provided you are observing safe sleep and making informed decisions. In the first four months specifically, their sleep is immature and your baby is mostly regulated by her need to feed, potentially little and

Naps are challenging to say the least. Day time sleep is quite different to night time sleep and although not the same, they are related and have a big impact on each other. Achieving adequate day time sleep can make all the difference to a restful sleep over-night and can help parents avoid unnecessary melt downs from a cumulatively over tired child, who finds it difficult to process the challenges of the day. Be aware that young children typically

If you find yourself struggling to establish better sleep for you and your young child then it may be worth considering making some changes to how you operate when it comes to sleep time and throughout the day and also how you manage the your child’s awakenings. In an ideal world all children would sleep when we want them too and no parent or child would struggle with not getting enough sleep but sleep by its very nature is

It is not unusual for some parents to have a great little sleeper who all of a sudden turns into a horrible little sleeper. Typically, sleeping issues may be represented by a resistance to sleep at bedtime, waking frequently overnight or deciding that they just don’t want to nap anymore. As a result you are stuck in a cycle of overtiredness that is an unwanted gift that keeps on giving-wearing you and your child out and continually adding to

For many years experts have been promoting the concept of the B’s..that is Bath, Bottle and Bed. However, this ideal may only be suitable for a certain percentage of families and for the rest of us-in fact the majority of us, this approach could be one of the largest contributory factors to the sleep issues that you experience. If your child is 6 months of age or older, then what you do before they actually go to sleep, could

Developmental stages and milestones can have a significant impact on your child's sleep.  It is not a myth, but a reality with some children being more affected by others and some stages causing a bigger sleep disturbance.  Early waking, short naps and resistance to going asleep can represent the start of a developmental phase. This is mostly apparent for a routinely good sleeper.  Parents will repost that their current sleep problems become heightened during the developmental time. Typically, the most difficult issues

Your child will generally require a day time nap for the first 3 years of life. This would typically be considered a biological need for sleep that evolves from birth. Without necessary daytime sleep, you may find that your night-time sleep is fractured, due to overtiredness, and you may also observe compromised mood, behaviour and appetite. Although day time sleep can often be challenging to establish and is ever- changing within the first 18 months; achieving adequate naps can

Lots of factors affect your child’s sleep, the timing, the environment and way in which they go to sleep, developmental leaps and stages, travel, maternal mood for example. Another significant sleep-wrecker is sickness and teething. Sickness and teething can have ongoing impact on your child ability to sleep well. Many children will experience bouts of routine illnesses such as ear, throat, chest infections, colds and viruses with minimum sleep disturbance. Others may have parents up at night (sometimes all

Recharge with sleep: Pediatric sleep recommendations promoting optimal health American Academy of Sleep Medicine Monday, June 13, 2016 DARIEN, IL - For the first time, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has released official consensus recommendations for the amount of sleep needed to promote optimal health in children and teenagers to avoid the health risks of insufficient sleep. The recommendations in the consensus statement are as follows: •Infants four to 12 months should sleep 12 to 16 hours

Monday 31st August got a great response from my conversation with Shane Coleman on the Pat Kenny Show

Delighted join Chris and Shane to discuss common sleep problems 19th August 2015

I helped Anna get a full nights sleep after 4 years of sleep deprivation

I was delighted to be interviewed by The Health Zone Show UCC Radio  

I was called on by The Anton Savage Show as a reliable source for a sleep issue that one mum was having.  Listen here;    

Once again I joined Marian Finucan on Saturday 21st March.  Listen here:   Click Here

I Joined Pat Kenny in the studio on March 16th...listen here...